Rotating index



(No Model.)

R. N. BROOKS. ROTATING INDEX.

No. 499,960. Patented June 29, 1893.

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UNITED States P TENT ()rrrcn.

RICHARD NICHOLS BROOKS, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFDRNIA.

ROTATING INDEX.

SPEGIFiCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 499,960, dated June 20, 1893. i Application filed January 3'. 1893. Sefia1No.457.08l. (Nomodeh) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD NrcHoLs BROOKS, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotating Indexes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of said invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it most nearly. appertains to make, use, and practice the same.

My invention relates to a certain new and useful rotating index, which is designed more especially for the use of book-keepers, accountants, &c., and it consists in the arrangement of'parts and details of construction as will be hereinafter more fully set forth in the drawings, described and pointed out in the specification.

It has commonly been the practice of bookkeepers to make a separate index in the front pages of their ledger, journal and other books, in order to permit the ready finding of an individual account, and in order to find the same, it is necessarysthat the book-keeper open the'book index inorder to ascertain the page on which the account appears. The 'continual opening and closing of the book is not only exceedingly annoying, but where the book is quite heavy, as in case of large ledgers, &c., it is also Very tiresome, and where several clerks are dependent upon the same index, it ofttimes causes confusion and delay in the work of the book-keeper.

The object of my invention is to provide a device which will save this unnecessary work of indexing each book, which device may be secured directly to the wall of the office or at any point convenient to the clerks, and said device consists of two winding rolls, united by means of an endless traveling index sheet, and of suitable mechanism for rotating said rolls, which rolls when rotated, as desired, will cause the index sheet to travel or unwind, from one roll, upon the other, and during its travel to pass over a platform, until the proper name sought appears or the place for inserting a new name.

In order to more fully comprehend my invention,reference must be had to the accompanying sheet of drawings wherein similar letters of reference are used to indicate corresponding parts throughout the entire specification and several views.

Figure 1, is aside elevation, showing my device secured to the wall bracket; Fig. 2,a top plan of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a detail sectional View showing one of the winding rolls, the shaft upon which same is secured and the tension regulating device located within the collar secured upon the shaft; and Fig. 4, a front View of Fig. 3, showing the gear wheel removed.

The letter A is used to represent the bracket, which is secured, in any suitable manner, to the wall of the office, or the same may indicate the top of the stand. To this stand or bracket is fastened the standard B", to which are cast or secured the side frame pieces 0. The outer ends of the side pieces are turned upwardly and provided with inwardly projecting flange or shoulder a, as shown. Between the curved ends of the side pieces is located the platform D, which platform rests upon the inwardly projecting flange a, and is secured thereto through the medium of screws or bolts a. Beneath the platform extend the longitudinal shafts, D, D the ends of which project beyond the outer face of the side pieces, as shown in Fig. 2. Upon these shafts I locate the winding rolls E, E. I also secure between the ends of side pieces 0, the smaller rolls F, F. 1 Secure or attach to roll E, one end of the index sheet F which sheet is then carried upward over roll F, and over roll F, and the free end thereof is then secured to roll E. It will thus be seen that as one roll is rotated the index sheet is unwound from the other and wound thereon. To the outer projecting ends of shafts D, D I secure, through the medium of pins f, hollow collars F F and within said collars, I locate the spring G, one end of which is secured to the shaft and the other to the face of gear wheel G, G also secured upon said shafts. The gears G, G are connected by means of intermediate gear G secured upon longitudinal shaft G, as shown. To the shaft D is secured an operating handle H, the rotation ofwhich handle serves to impart a like motion to the roll E and gear G, the rotation of which gear through the medium. of intermediate gear G has its motion transmitted to the gear G The gears G, G have a rotation independent of the longitudinal shafts for a limited distance. Consequently if one roll should be rotated a greater distance than required to cause the proper travel of the index sheet, which would cause a looseness of said sheet, the tension of the spring attached to the opposite (gear and shaft would cause the index sheet to be held taut, thus preventing the crumpling or crinkling of the index sheet upon the roll. The index sheet hasthe upper face thereof properly stamped or spaced alphabetically. Consequently when it is desired to reacha given name, it is only necessary that the index sheet bewound .or unwound upon the roll, as desired.

This device may also be used in connection with stores, for the purpose of holding price lists in. order to overcome the necessity of. the j s or clerks running to the book for the, purpose of 3 finding the price ofa given article.

Upon itheends of, the longitudinal shafts, opposite that to which the gear mechanism is secured',;I locate. the guidewheels g, g, and j these wheels are connected together by means a of thetapeorcord g This tape or oord p rgevents the index sheet being unwound from;

therotating-"rolls, inasmuch asfwhen the end of the sheet-has been reached, the tapewill also be, unwound from thelwheel corresponding to the roll from whichthe sheethas been I unwound. and will prevent the rotating, of the i Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1; Inan indexing'device, the combination with the frame, of a platform secured in the upper portion of the same, bearing rollers mounted in the. frame adjacent to the ends of the platform, rotating rollers mounted in the lower part of the frame, means, for actuating said rollers, and an index sheet having its ends secured to the-rotating rollers and its intermediate portion passingaround the beart: rollers nd over ewplat ormr;

I11 exin vi e et embt et :of the f ram e, thefi rotati n g rollers having; their s t j u led the rama an ndexshee c d y a e eve seer e lsr ecur d on thetsltaftstof, the rollers, springspoiled o nd he haf s and sec r d to the e re an he a hee eeml m an vre mating said wheels.-

, t a s5 1 t t o y he .lept a fixmy i netureini presence of two witnesses,

RICHARD NICHOLS BROOKS.

j Witnesses;

N. A. ACKER, M. G. LOEFLER. 

